Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to switching amplifiers, and more particularly to a switching amplifier and a method for estimating remaining lifetime of the switching amplifier.
A switching amplifier is typically configured for driving a load of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, a load of systems in renewable energy, a load of systems in aviation, or a load of systems in transportation, etc. The switching amplifier is a key component of the above systems.
Taking the switching amplifier as a gradient driver for example. If the gradient driver fails, imaging is impossible and the MRI is unusable until the gradient driver is either repaired or replaced. The gradient reliability estimates and the lifetime expectation are very important to manage the maintenance of MR systems to ensure minimum disruption on the use of the MRI system. Several generations of gradient drivers have shown that the components with the highest probability of failure in the gradient amplifier are the power devices.
The traditional way to get the remaining lifetime data is to do an accumulation test for the power devices, and the accumulation test is doing offline.
It is desirable to provide a real time detection and calculation method to estimate the lifetime consumption for the power devices in MRI gradient driver system.